This truly is the Coming of Age of Corporate Anthropology. All around us, the number of companies that are employing anthropologists is soaring, as are those that are engaging firms to conduct ethnographic or observational research for them. Another bellwether is Google search, where interest in anthropology-trained culture change experts increased dramatically in 2017, as I report in my recent article in Huffington Post. 

I saw this “coming of age of anthropology” not long ago when I spoke for the second year at the Michigan Colleges Alliance (MCA) Roundtable. Each June, the MCA gathers with its fifteen independent college members and 120 businesses from across Michigan and beyond to think creatively about how higher education needs to change in order to better serve its students, its communities and the businesses and industries that need its talent. In order to provide industry with the new types of employees it needs, colleges and universities need to change their cultures, their purposes and their methods so that their graduates can find good jobs in today’s market and become valuable elements of fast-changing companies. 

Thanks to the great leadership of Bob Bartlett and Karen Mulligan, the MCA convened a number of lecturers who spoke at length about anthropology, sharing how its methods, theory and tools added significant value to their businesses and why other companies should embrace anthropology as well. 

What is corporate anthropology? 

The reason I love anthropology is because it teaches you to see, feel and think in new ways. These days, it’s no longer the strongest and smartest who will survive — it’s the ones who are the most adaptive. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the business world, as I describe in a recent article I wrote for Quick Base, which you can read here.

Corporate anthropologists, like myself, see the things that are really happening out there in the field, not what business leaders think is going on. We look for the deeper meaning in the interactions that make up people’s lives and the objects they surround themselves with. 

How corporate anthropology can help companies be more competitive

As a corporate anthropologist and culture change expert, I work with organizations that need or want to change. I'm an observer, constantly watching for emerging “trends from the trenches,” and I like to share them so that others too can see what's coming.

As I report in my recent article for Forbes.com, one of the biggest trends I'm noticing as I travel around the country is how business leaders are really struggling with today's breakneck pace of change. (You can read the article here.) Rather than embracing change and its possibilities for innovation and growth, they’re fleeing from it. Not good!

The trends are obvious but CEOs don't want to see them

Often, the biggest challenge for people is how to recognize what's happening right in front of them. But for today's CEOs, this is particularly scary because the degree of change is so great—threatening their business models, fundamental beliefs and long-held strategies—that they feel lost, like the proverbial deer in headlights. But for those leaders who are willing to adapt and change with the times, new levels of productivity await them.

5 trends that today's business leaders should pay attention to:

A former client of ours in the construction industry contacted us recently, saying: “We’re stuck. Sales are flat, the competition is killing us, and my sales team doesn't know what to do. Can you help?”

As in so many cases after 2008’s Great Recession, this client's corporate division, once an industry leader, was experiencing zero growth, using the same outmoded tactics to keep factories running while wishing for the old world order to return.

Guess what? Like coal, the old days are not coming back. Our former client's business has now reached a dangerous tipping point that could put the company's entire future at risk. His only hope is to embrace change, and fast.

Why do businesses get “stuck?”

One of the main reasons why companies (or individuals, for that matter) get stuck is because they fear change. Driven by well-honed habits, they are more comfortable doing things the way they've always done them. They resist embracing the unknown. Think of it in terms of a play. People like performing the script they know; when given a different script with new roles to play and new lines to learn, they tend to balk.

Retirement...that wonderful state of being that millions of people look forward to and cannot wait to start enjoying. Not me! Although I am well past the age when I could start receiving Social Security checks, I am far from ready to retire. Why? Because life is too exciting to sit around twiddling my thumbs. Besides, I still have a lot of work to do, as I explain in a recent article I wrote for Successful Business News. (Read it here.) Is anyone out there like me?

I still like the challenges of the business world.

Yes, I still get high building revenues and generating profits. And if I can’t do it for myself, I enjoy helping someone else do it.

But if you're considering re-entering the workplace, or like me, are not ready to leave it, hold on. It's not as easy as you might think. So before plunging headlong into a new venture, pause and consider this 7-point check list:

What's my message to women entrepreneurs? You've come a long way, baby, but don't stop now because (male-oriented) corporate America is beginning to notice.

As proof, just look at the numbers:

• Women now make up 40% of new entrepreneurs in the U.S.
• In the last nine years, 2007 to 2016, there has been a 45% rise in women entrepreneurs (compared with a 9% increase in all entrepreneurs)
• More than 11 million businesses in the U.S. are woman-owned, employing nearly 9 million people and generating more than $1.6 trillion in revenue

Clearly, women are not just diving into business, they're doing it very successfully, as I discuss in my recent article for American Marketing Association. (Read it here.)

So how do successful women entrepreneurs do it? What's their secret sauce?

When women get the chance to build companies, they build them differently than their male counterparts. Women tend to intentionally create cultures that encourage collaboration, team-building and innovative thinking, without taking their eyes off bottom line results.

Also, when women scale a business, they focus on long-term sustainability, not just rapid growth. This focus informs marketing strategies and corporate priorities, and is an oft-repeated refrain we are hearing at SAMC in our interviews with women CEOs. 

5 important themes crucial to women-owned success strategies